Benzene’s bond lengths corrected

Scientists in South Korea are reporting the most accurate experimental geometries for benzene and deuterated benzene to date.¹ The team led by Thomas Schultz at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology say that previously reported experimental structures were out by several milliangstroms.

Sérgio Domingos from the University of Coimbra in Portugal, who wasn’t involved in the study, explains that isotopic information was used to determine the corrected benzene structure. ‘The results reveal carbon–hydrogen and carbon–deuterium bond lengths that defy currently accepted literature values,’ he says. ’The nuclear quantum effect of deuterium with respect to hydrogen hasn’t been explored for benzene with this level of precision before.’